Editor: The Tax Practitioner Stewardship Group (TPSG) is just one forum out of the many which the NTAA attends on behalf of members.

Below are some of the key messages from the most recent TPSG meeting held on 1 March 2019.

Tax agent assurance

The ATO and the Tax Practitioners Board ('TPB') continue to target agents involved in illegal activity, fraud, evasion and crime and will take firm action to remove these agents and minimise their impact on the community. 

The ATO is also identifying agents who might just be struggling in one or more areas.  For example, these agents might be having large numbers of returns amended or making a large number of calls to the ATO’s call centres, lodging paper returns rather than electronic lodgment, or not fully using the support on offer from either the ATO or their professional bodies, such as still not using pre-fill.  

The ATO engages with these agents through the Early Intervention Program (over 100 agents so far) which aims to provide proactive support and guidance to reduce the number of agents who are at risk of becoming a concern in the future.

Strengthening the integrity of the Australian Business Number system

Tax practitioners can support their clients by providing their Registered Agent Number when applying for an ABN or applying via ATO Online.  This will assist in providing assurance to the ATO that the tax professional has assessed ABN entitlement prior to applying.

Activity Statement Financial Processing

The ATO has recommenced plans for major system changes to move all activity statement account management (including penalties and interest) into one system.  

This will be known as the Activity Statement Financial Processing ('ASFP') project, and will provide a consolidated and enhanced view of Activity Statement and Director Penalty accounts and transactions via ATO online services.

Other issues

The TPSG also discussed:

υraising awareness of e-invoicing;

υthe small business black economy;

υthe new Tax Clinics program; and

υthe new protections for tax whistleblowers.

Editor: Please contact us if you have any items you would like us to contribute to the TPSG for future discussions.